Helmet with side shields



Jun 9, 1959 w. A. STUART ETAL 2,889,555

HELMET wrm SIDE samuns Filed Feb. '21, 1957 INVENTORS ASiuaz't Le ozzard 61MB: table BY 6 A'ITORNE? United States Patent HELMET WITH SIDE SHIELDS Whitney A. Stuart, New Brunswick, N.J., and Leonard G. Huxtable, New York, N.Y., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Application February 21, 1957, Serial No. 641,775

3 Claims. (Cl. 2-6) The invention relates to protective helmets or the like, particularly helmets which comprise a shell of relatively rigid material such as metals, alloys thereof, or synthetic plastic materials.

Such helmets are well known and, of necessity, must have a head opening larger than the largest dimensions of the head to permit the helmet to be put on and taken th It follows then, that the same cannot have a reasonably close fit in the face or neck areas unless they include portions which are hinged to the crown portion of the helmet shell. Hinges are not only expensive and heavy whereby to add to the cost and weight of the shell but they are easily damaged by the rough usage incident to military operations and are correspondingly difiicult to repair in the field.

With the foregoing in view, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved helmet shell of the class described.

A further object is to provide an improved shell which includes a relatively small shell body together with supplementary covering means mounted on said body for movement from inoperative positions at least substantially entirely overlying said shell to an infinite number of operative positions wherein the said covering means projects beyond the shell to augment the protection offered by the shell body.

A further object is to provide an improved device such as that last described wherein said supplementary covering means has at least two-point support on said shell in every operative position.

Other objects and advantages reside in the particular structure of the device, the structure of the several elements comprising the same, combinations and subcombinations of such elements, all of which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the drawing which illustrates an embodiment of the invention and to the following specification wherein the invention is described and claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure l is an elevational view of a helmet including the invention, the parts being shown in two operative positions;

Figure 2 is a front view of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view like Figure l, the parts being shown in two other operative positions;

Figure 4 is a view like Figure l, the parts being shown in the inoperative position; and

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the plane of the line 5--5 of Figure 4.

Referring specifically to the drawing wherein like reference characters designate like parts in all views, designates generally a helmet shell according to the invention which includes a crown portion 11 and a nape or neck protecting portion 12. Said crown and nape portions 11 and 12 respectively have lower and front edge portions 13 and 14 which intersect on opposite sides of the helmet to define the top and rear limits of substantially triangular areas which normally expose the side portions of the face and head of the wearer as clearly seen in Figure l. The arrangement is such that although the nape portion 12 of the shell is shaped to have a close fit with the lower portion of the skull and the nape, the helmet may be readily donned and defied because the lower edge 13 of the crown portion 11 is extended rear-.

wardly past the vertical center line of the head and is located on or just above the line of the greatest width of the head. Thus, the helmet may be put on by seating the nape portion first and thereafter swinging the crown portion 11 downwardly. In this connection, it is understood that the shell 10 is provided on the inside with suitable sweat band and head supporting cradle (not shown) when the shell is formed as a helmet liner. A typical and suitable sweatband and cradle are shown in the patent to Riddell, No. 2,250,275. However, when the helmet 10 is worn over a liner, such sweatbands and cradle are omitted. Therefore, it should be understood that the helmet according to the invention may comprise either a helmet liner-type of head covering or it may be a mere shell for covering a helmet liner.

To cover the exposed areas which are partially defined by the lower and front edges 13 and 14, covering means now to be described have been provided. In the embodiment illustrated, such means comprise a pair of covering means 15 which may be generally oval in shape and which are secured for pivotal sliding movement over the nape and crown portions 12 and 11 respectively, by suitable pivot-providing means 16. Pivot means 16 are coaxial and are located in the crown portion 11 above edge 13 and forwardly of edge 14. The covering means 15 may be formed with suitable apertures 17 to ventilate them or to permit sounds to reach the ears of the wearer more readily. The pivots 16 may include any suitable or well known friction washers 18 (Figure 5), between the covering means 15 and the crown portion 11 to resist pivoting of the former 'and to frictionally retain them in adjusted positions.

Likewise, the portions of the crown portion 11 and nape portion 12 which partially surround the pivots 16 have convex outer surfaces 19, Figure 5, of generally uniform curvature while the inner surfaces 20 of the covering means 15 are concave and have a curvature complementary to the convex surfaces 19 aforesaid. The concave surfaces 20 of the covering means 15 are disposed concentrically of the convex surface portions 19 and have a close sliding fit thereover to present a neat appearance as well as to minimize the chances of being caught on projections and accidently moved. Likewise, this close fit tends to augment the action of the friction washers 18 in maintaining the covering means in their several positions.

In operation, when the helmet is to be donned, the covering means are moved to the inoperative or raised positions of Figure 4. If the need for maximum protection does not exist, they may be left in such positions to permit maximum head ventilation and coolness. From such inoperative positions, the covering means 15 may be swung downwardly to any of an infinite number of operative positions as required by the wearer. Thus, in Figure 1, in solid lines, one covering means 15 has been moved to an operative position which substantially entirely covers the triangular area defined by the edges 13 and 14. At the same time, a V-shaped area has been left exposed to the side of the wearers eye to permit side vision. If maximum protection is needed more than side vision, this V-shaped area may be eliminated by moving the covering means 15 further to the fully closed position, shown in broken lines, Figure 1. Figure 3 in solid and broken lines illustrates two more positions of the covering means 15. Obviously, the covering means 15 may be 3 positioned at any intermediate position between the inoperative positions of Figure 4 to the fully closed operative position shown in broken lines in Figure l.

An-important feature of the invention is that in all operative positions of the covering means 15, they bridge a portion of the exposed area so as to have at least a twopoint supporton the edges B and 14. Thus, substantially all of the surfaceareas of the covering means are braced against inward movement toward the face by this two-point support. This allows the covering means 15 to be unpadded and permits a close fit with the shell it}.

.The structure shown and described hereinabove has many advantages over a closed type helmet. When one of the side covering means 15 is up, as shown in Figure 4, the helmet is most compatible with rifle firing and since each covering means pivots in'dependently of the other thehelmet is ideally suited for either a right handed or for a left-handed rifleman. Obviously, ventilation is greatly improved and hearing is unimpaired when the covering means are up. Further advantage of the individual covering means 15 lies in the flexibility. Specially designed covering means could incorporate communications equipment, etc. This lends itself to economy as the base shell ltlwould never have to be changed.

While there has been shown and described what is now thought to be a preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be understood that the same is susceptible of other forms and expressions. Consequently, the invention is not limited to the precise structure shown and described hereinabove except as hereinafter claimed.

We claim:

1. The combination with a helmet shell including crown and nape portions respectively having lower and front edges which intersect on opposite sides of said helmet at acute angles to define the top and rear limits of substantially triangular areas exposing side portions of the face and head of the wearer, covering means for said areas, means mounting said covering means on said shell in frictional engagement therewith for sliding movement from operative positions at least substantially entirely clear of said areas to any of an infinite number of operative positions, one operative position for each covering means covering at least the entire related area and the other operative positions covering lesser portions of the area,

said covering means, crown and nape portions having concentric and complementary abutting surfaces, and said covering means being shaped to bridge said areas and have supporting bearings on both said lower and front edges of said shell in all operative positions.

2. The combination with a helmet shell including crown and nape portions respectively having lower and front edges which intersect on opposite sides of said helmet to define the top and rear limits of substantially triangular areas exposing side portions of the face and head of the wearer, said front edges extending downwardly and forwardly so as to underlie portions of said lower edges, covering means for said areas, means mounting said covering means on said shell in frictional engagement therewith for sliding movement from operative positions at least substantially entirely clear of said areas to any of an infinite number of operative positions, one operative position for each covering means covering at least the entire related area and the other operative positions covering lesser portions of the area, said shell including two convex outer side surface portions, and said covering means including concave inner surfaces which are complementary to said convex outer surface portions and are disposed at least partially thereon in concentric relation thereto in all positions of said covering means, and said covering means being shaped to bridge said areas and have supporting bearings on both said lower and front edges of said shell in all operative positions.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said means mounting said covering means includes a pivot pivotally mounting each covering means and a friction Washer on each pivot between said convex and concave surfaces for resisting pivotal movement of each covering means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,366,907 Dunand Feb. 1, 1921 2,149,121 Kronenberger Feb. 28, 1939 2,282,830 Scudder et al. May 12, 1942 OTHER REFERENCES Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare, copyright 1920, by the Yale University Press, page 229, Figure 178. (Copy in Division24.) 

